


Since Puente Antiguo

by Twirls Oldfic (TwirlsWrites)



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M, Random Spider-Man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-15
Updated: 2013-02-22
Packaged: 2017-11-25 16:02:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/640594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwirlsWrites/pseuds/Twirls%20Oldfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha wakes up in a universe different than her own. It was as if the events of the world had diverged after Thor first touched down. First she has to find the team, assemble the team, figure out what's wrong with Coulson, and rescue Clint from Loki... again.<br/>It could turn out to be a very long day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Good Morning Sunshine

Natasha Romanoff was not having a good day.

When she woke up, it was wrong.

Everything was wrong.

This wasn’t her apartment, but it _was_ her apartment. Or it had been back when she had been Natalie Rushman, spying on Stark to get a read on his tech and his health. Now she lived in the tower with the other avengers when she wasn’t out on a mission. She rose.

Side arm under the pillow on the other side of the bed - check.

Extra knife in the hollow part of the bed frame - check.

Personal armory safe in the closet - check.

Messages on the machine - check.

She pressed the button to play it as she turned over the options in her mind. Could it be a time travel thing? Her hair hadn’t grown back overnight, however, so maybe she had been pulled back. Where would that put the her who should be here?

“Natalie!” she recognized the voice, an office aid who worked on the same floor as Pepper’s office. “How did the date with the cutie in R&D go? You didn’t give me the scoop after, I hope that means it went well!” a laugh, and Natasha had to smile, she remembered the girl - Olivia something? - as being nice. Not particularly close though; that and the fact that Natasha herself had never gone on a date with anyone else in the office ruled out time travel. She spotted her purse and pulled out her phone. The date was what today should have been. She tuned back in for the last of Olivia’s message, “Anyway, see you in the office tomorrow, I guess you’re not up for brunch!” another laugh before the machine beeped over to the next message, apparently from just an hour ago. Another sign that something was off, that should have woken her.

“Hey Natalie, it’s - “ Bruce? Was something up with him too? “Bruce, I had a great time last night, just wondering if you’d like to do it again some time.” There was a scuffle on the other end of the line, and Natasha could definitely hear Tony in the background. She crossed her arms, grinning slightly down at the phone as there was a hand-over-the-speaker conversation which seemed to be Tony patronizing Bruce for calling the next morning. “I’ll call you back later, my roommate is being an - “ a slight oomf noise, “idiot.” The machine beeped again, last of the messages.

So, Natalie Rushman has a budding romance with Bruce, who was apparently ‘a cutie in R&D’ and living with Tony. Natasha tapped her nails against her cell phone for a beat before unlocking it and going through her contacts.            

            There was no Francis Barnes, Clint’s code name in her phone. She frowned down at her contacts list, no Clint Barton either. She checked a few more aliases before having to acknowledge that Clint wasn’t in Natalie Rushman’s contacts. That wasn’t a good sign. She clicked on Roger Stevens.

            “Hello?”

            “Coulson I’m stopping by,” she said, already heading back into her room to get dressed. “Leave a window open.” She clicked out of the conversation and tossed it back into the bag on the counter.

            Within twenty minutes she slipped in through the window of Coulson’s apartment. 

            “Most people just wait for me to buzz them up,” Coulson said blithely as she walked into his kitchen. He was waiting at the table, not looking up from his paper, but had two mugs of coffee waiting.

            “I don’t like getting rusty,” she replied. She slipped into the chair across from his and waited as he slowly folded up the paper.

            “So what can I do for you this morning? Did your date go alright?”

            “Does everyone know about that?” Natasha let one eyebrow go up a smidge.

            “I heard he was quite cute.”

            “You followed me on my date?”

            “I didn’t personally, I have people for that.”

            “Date following people.”

            “She said that you noticed her,”

            “I’m sure I did. It’s the principle of the thing.” There was a pause, “Coulson I need to call into effect protocol six.” Coulson frowned.

            “Amnesia?”

            “Not quite amnesia. It’s the right day, but nothing is familiar. I don’t think we developed a protocol for possible multi-world travel until the Avengers Initiative officially started.” As she expected, Coulson’s posture stiffened.

            “The Avengers Initiative?” he asked, “So you’re saying… wherever you’re from, the initiative got off the ground.” It wasn’t a question, but Natasha answered regardless.

            “Yes,” she said. “What happened here so that it didn’t?”

            “It wasn’t one single thing,” Coulson said. “There were issues in that we could not get Stark on board; Banner refused to cooperate; Fury’s plans to find Captain America were stifled, Thor returned to Asgard with little fanfare; and while you are an impressive agent, you can’t be your own back-up plan.” Natasha didn’t stop herself from frowning at this.

            “What about Clint?” Coulson’s fingers tightened around his coffee cup for just a moment, a moment short enough that if Natasha wasn’t looking she might not have even seen it.

            “Agent Barton went AWOL shortly after the incident in Puente Antiguo. He is… presumed to be compromised.”

            Poor Clint, apparently he just can’t escape that. But still.

            “Since Puente Antiguo? Coulson, that was almost two years ago!”

            “I know, Agent Romanov. Thank-you for the reminder.” Slowly, he set down the coffee mug and folded his hands together on the table.

            “You haven’t found him?”

            “There have been small hints on a few ops, but most of the signs are gone by the time we get there… Agent Barton doesn’t have the best track record, and so finding him isn’t the highest priority if he has simply left.”

            “You can tell Maria Hill to keep her opinions to herself.”

            “That’s what you said last time,” Coulson said with a dry smile.

            “I haven’t been able to find him either?” Natasha clarified. Coulson gave a small sigh.

            “I have my suspicions that you’ve been doing your own recon, but as of this moment no. Furthermore, you’ve also been on assignment much of that time working for Tony Stark and, shortly thereafter, Pepper Potts.”

            “What was the goal of this mission?”

            “To evaluate Stark’s health, to convince him to continue a working relationship with SHIELD, and to put together a profile on his compatibility with the Avengers Initiative. Until you have an extended need elsewhere, you remain at Stark Industries as a sort of security liason and to get a good read on what they’re putting out.”

            “The Avengers Initiative was never given life, and yet you keep Banner around Tony Stark?”

            “It’s best to keep an eye on him,” Coulson said. “Both of them, actually. I guess this means you don’t remember how your date went, then.”

            “Was it reconnaissance?” Natasha asked.

            “Not as assigned by us,” Coulson replied. “You guys went to some little bar in Brooklyn. It’s called ‘Smash’ ironically enough.” Coulson unfolded his paper again, not even having to check to know that Natasha was already out the door… or window, in this case.


	2. We're Getting the Band Back Together!

            Smash was a small bar. They didn’t have a varied menu, and the bartender wasn’t that great at mixing various drinks but the general consensus on Yelp was that he was probably just eye candy anyway and he was very, very good at that. Natasha could not remember ever going there as Natalie Rushman, so that was another variant to note, and probably an important one.

            There was a bell on the door, which she managed to avoid.

            It seemed… old. It was as though the bar’s theme was some old-timey vintage ‘Cheers’ sort of thing. It honestly seemed more like a coffee house than a bar. The windows let in a yellow-tinted, warm light. The music playing softly in the background wasn’t rock, there was a chess table in the corner with an elderly couple playing. If it wasn’t for the long bar in the back, it could have passed.

            But, a bar it was. There was a variety of bottles in the center shelves, the tap seemed extensive, and the bar top was a rich dark wood being wiped down by who Natasha could only assume was the eyecandy bartender in a pair of Khakis and a tight white t-shirt.

            “Steve?” she said, approaching the bar as she realized who that eyecandy bartender was. He jumped.

            “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in,” he smiled. He blinked as she reached the bar. “Ah,” he bit his lip.

            “Steve,” she repeated. He watched her carefully, a hint of hopefulness in his eyes. “Steve it’s me.”

            “Natasha thank god,” he groaned. He gave another smile, this one even wider and she could tell he was just barely resisting the urge to reach across the bar and hug her. “I saw you last night, but you didn’t seem to recognize me. Do you know what’s going on? I woke up and I was in a little apartment above the bar and when I tried to go to the tower, my security codes didn’t work and I almost got arrested and - “

            “Wait, you saw me last night?” Natasha clarified.

            “Yeah,” Steve said. He shifted. “You were on a date with Bruce… is that a thing? Because I did not know that. You came up to get the drinks and you smiled at me and chatted a little bit but didn’t seem to know who I was.”

            “What did I get?”

            “Ah, I don’t remember the name of it,” Steve admitted. “But I made it wrong, so you just got two beers instead. I don’t think that would have triggered anything though, Bruce had the same beer you did.”

            “And he called me this morning,” Natasha said. “He called me Natalie, I don’t think anything’s been unlocked for him. Maybe it’s you.”

            “What do you mean?” Steve asked.

            “You; I saw you last night and interacted with you. This morning, I wake up as I should be. Steve Rogers is supposed to still be on ice, you’re not supposed to be here. You’re the outlier, so interacting with you must trigger something.”

            “So they never found me,” Steve mused. He didn’t seem to upset by that, his tone casual. “The public doesn’t know that Tony’s Iron Man, and the Avengers were never formed.”

            “How do you know that they don’t know about Stark?” Natasha asked.

            “Contrary to popular belief, I do know how to use Google,” Steve said dryly. “After almost getting arrested trying to go home, I did a bit of research.”

            “Coulson said nothing came together for the Avengers Initiative,” Natasha said.

            “You talked to Coulson? Does he remember anything?”

            “Not anything that we would call real, no,” Natasha replied. He told me about the failure of the initiative and that Clint was AWOL.”

            “Clint’s missing?” Cap exclaimed. Natasha glanced around, but the only people in the entire bar other than them were the elderly chess-players.

            “Since Puente Antiguo,”

            “That was when Thor touched down, right?”

            “Right.”

            “So, you’re thinking Loki has something to do with it,” Cap said with a nod. Natasha nodded in reply, rolling out her shoulders a bit.

            “Yes. Clearly something went down differently if Loki didn’t lead an invasion force a year later. He could be trying for subtly.”

            “Or this whole thing could be one big trick,” Steve pointed out.

            “It feels real enough,” Natasha replied, having considered that. “I don’t think we should disregard any consequence of what happens now with the thought that it’s purely fiction.”

            “What if this is actually real but the world we think is real isn’t real?” Steve asked, voice strained. He was gripping the towel in his hands awfully hard, Natasha estimated it would tear soon.

            “Steve, don’t let it get to you. Remember: if this were real you would have no business here. It all comes back to you.”

            “That’s both reassuring and not,” Steve answered. Natasha shrugged.

            “So, what’s the plan captain?”

            “Well, your theory is that interacting with me somehow triggered whatever this illusion is breaking for you. So, we try to get the rest of the team here,” Steve nodded. “A lunch break with Bruce would be an easy excuse for you, and I’ve seen Tony pop in loads of times already, I’ve just never really interacted with him,” the towel split in Steve’s hands and he jumped.

            “Thor won’t be a factor. If this is Loki’s work, then it wouldn’t have impacted him at all.”

            “Clint’s off the radar though,” Steve reminded her. “How are we going to get to him?” Natasha frowned, shrugging off the urge to cross her arms.

            “We’ll figure that out when the time comes. We don’t even know what assembling would really do.” But she had to admit, it would be a steadying force to have the team mostly together, especially for Steve who took comfort in others.            “Do you have time for lunch?” Natasha asked, “I want to hear about this new life of yours.” Steve grinned.

            “Not lunch, but maybe for dinner. What’s your number, I’ll call you.” Natasha took his number down instead, and sent him a quick text. She hadn’t gotten a chance to check hers yet.

            “Gives me time to learn about my new life I suppose.”

 

            Natasha spent the rest of the day investigating herself. She refreshed her memory on Natalie Rushman’s back-story, decoded and checked her logs, and sent out a few feelers for Clint. Then she called Bruce back, getting his answering machine, and set a time for them to meet at Smash tomorrow for lunch.

 

            Here, Steve lived in a little apartment a bit above Smash. He opened the door and welcomed her in with a smile. He was wearing khakis, a plain grey t-shirt and…

            “Is that one of those hoodies with the Iron Man armor printed on it?” Steve glanced down for a second before tugging at the sleeves, closing the door behind her.

            “Yeah. I guess this me is a big fan. It’s kind of strange to go through the news and see Iron Man as the only super hero around here.”

            “Just another reason I’m excited to get back home as soon as possible,” Natasha agreed. She glanced around the place as Steve hurried back to the kitchen. It was small, but cozy. There was a overstuffed couch and there were magazines and newspapers on the coffee table. The television was small, but there was a large pile of dvds stacked in two piles beside it.

            It seemed like the kind of place Steve would have if he had a place outside of the tower. How long had he been here anyhow?

            “You… like it here,” she said softly. Steve poked his head from around the doorway in the kitchen.

            “It’s not that I like it better,” he said. “I just… I had to get used to it. And it is kind of nice to sort of have a… normal sort of vacation. Tending a bar, having a nice little apartment, it’s comfortable. But I miss my family, and I miss helping people. This whole world is just a bit too sane for me I think.”

 

            “This is insane, you know that right?” Bruce clarified as Tony paced in front of him. “You were supposed to be on patrol, not creepily stalking the bartender that you make out with every once in a while.”

            “I wasn’t stalking him, alright? I was simply in the area and saw your date going up to his apartment.”

            “And you took a picture. From inside the apartment,” Bruce said tersely.

            “The hallway, it’s not like I set up cameras in his place, I just hacked into the ones in his building.”

            “Insane.”

            “Let’s face it Bruce, they’d make a very attractive couple.”

            “Are you actually _trying_ to make me angry?” Bruce clarified. “I mean really Tony, roll it back a bit. With your fixation on this guy and his wearing your clothes I’m just waiting for when you decide to bring him home to meet Pepper and Rhodey.”

            “Shut-up,” Tony grumbled. “He has a very talented tongue, that’s all.”

            “A very talented tongue and your sweat shirt,” Bruce said. He popped the battery back into his phone and slipped the back cover back on. “There we go, good as new.”

            “You’re not even listening to me,” Tony said, crossing his arms.

            “You’re acting like a pre-teen girl and not saying anything remotely helpful anyway, I think I’ll survive without your input into my dating life.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” Tony exclaimed, scowling down at Bruce who merely tapped his phone to life.

            “The barkeep ignores you a few times and suddenly you’re stalking him and brooding about it.”

            “I’m not broodi- I’m not stalking him! I told you, I was in the - “

            “Quiet down, I missed a message.”  

            “And it was so sudden! I waited behind that back corner where we normally meet and I - “

            “Please stop,” Bruce groaned.

            “Well, anyway, he just squeaked at me and ran up the stairs.”

            “At least you didn’t chase after him. You went the far less creepy and invasive route of hacking the security cameras at his place of residence.” Tony glared again and Bruce huffed out a short sigh, pocketing his phone as he pun the chair around. “Fine. Let me try… Don’t worry about it bro, the fact that he’s wearing your hoodie is totes a good sign.”

            “Okay. First of all, never do that again. Second of all, do I even want to know where that came from? Third of all, do you think so?”

            “Tony. Just talk to him… in a well-lit area, without starting the conversation by pining him to a wall or sticking your hands down his pants.” Tony seemed to consider this, “Now can we move on? Did you actually get anything done on your patrol?”

            “I stalked a few Maggia thugs, intercepted a drug drop-off, nothing too major.”

            “At last, New York can sleep safe.” Tony shrugged at Bruce’s tone and reached over for the bowl of blueberries sitting on the desk next to his laptop.

            “More than you’ve done tonight,” he said smugly, popping a berry into his mouth. Bruce frowned.

            “Yes, it was so easy to get stuff done with you whining in my ear all night about whats-his-face.”

            “Steve,” Tony grumbled, just barely loud enough for Bruce to hear.

            “If you hadn’t built Jarvis, I’m sure he’d have deactivated by now.”

            “Rude!” Tony exclaimed. “Jarvis, you love me right?” Tony asked, glancing up.

            “You are the wind beneath my wings, sir.” Tony shot another smug look at Bruce before striding from the room. Bruce rolled his eyes with a sigh.

            Tony.

            Bruce glanced at his watch. He should have enough time to finish this and then figure out what to wear tomorrow. Maybe he should lock Tony out, he’d come wandering back in ten minutes otherwise and Bruce would never finish.


	3. Date Crasher

            “You’re meeting her for lunch at the same bar?”

            “Tony, Jesus!” Bruce jumped in his char and slammed his hands down on the desk. “Stop doing that.”

            “It seems suspicious though.”

            “Let it go Tony, I can handle my own affairs. And I’m leaving now so this conversation is over. And, so help me, if you follow us…” With one last glare, Bruce rose and walked from the room, grabbing his coat on his way out the door.

            “Maybe she’s going to entice you into a threesome!” Tony yelled after him. Bruce winced at the volume.

           

            “So then Tony decides that if he’s going to be staying here, he needs his bots. You and Butterfingers he just shuts down and sends over but with Dummy … well, with Dummy things are always a little different and he won’t shut down.”

            “He tried to fly him over on his plane didn’t he?” Natasha had to ask. Bruce grinned and nodded.

            “Tried being the operative word, he did get him on the plane and they did get here, but I hear stories about that flight. Apparently Dummy’s not especially fond of airplanes, even swanky private jets. I think at one point Tony had to don the suit to get close enough to flip some sort of shut-down switch without getting his kneecaps cut down.”

            “Dummy, wow.” Natasha laughed. “I remember back in Malibu, I had to go dig Stark out of his lab because Pepper was flying in and hadn’t heard from him in a few days. I guess he had some sort of defense set up with the bots, because I used Pepper’s codes and walked in, and Dummy came charging at me and throwing smoothie mush.”

            “Oh, that’s not anything Tony had them do. That’s just Dummy. He’s done that to me a few times too.”

            “Is his aim any better?”

            “I think it’s improving. Last time he got me square in the chest. But, to be fair, Tony enjoys hitting me with things so he could have been training him.”

            “Well you know, St-“ Natasha cut herself off. Fuck, she almost talked about Steve’s tendencies to play catch with the bots. What was wrong with her? This was a mission for crying out loud. She sent an apologetic smile towards Bruce. “Back home, my neighbor Steve - he works here, actually - used to play catch with me all the time, I wonder if I could handle Dummy with more training.” Bruce smiled and Natasha inwardly gave a sigh of relief. This was disconcerting. Her phone vibrated on her hip.

            “Sorry, my phone,”

            “Go ahead.” Natasha smiled and clicked the phone on, it was an unknown number.

            “I heard you’re looking for me again.”

            Clint. Natasha froze for a second, but just for a second.

            “Sorry Bruce,” she said, pulling the phone away and covering up the speaker. “I have to take this. I’ll be right back, could you get a refill on the fries?”

            “Uh, sure,” Bruce said. He looked slightly concerned; he must have caught that freeze. Damnit.

 

            “Clint where are you?” she hissed into the phone as she slipped through the bathroom window. She promptly ducked as an arrow screamed past her ear. “I’ll have to call you back,” she growled, hanging up and tucking her phone back into her pocket. She looked up, scanning the area of roof the arrow came from.

            “That was a warning. Stop looking,” that was in a different direction. Man was like a damn flying squirrel.

            “Loki is awfully melodramatic,” she mused. “Come on Clint, ‘that was a warning’? I just want to talk.”

            “So talk.”

            “I’m not talking to the night air,” she flipped to the side, “as someone shoots at me Clint. Come down, where have you been?”

            “Places you could never dream of.” Natasha ducked as Clint came leaping down - the fire escape, of course. He pushed off the wall and landed where Natasha had been standing, throwing up an arm to stop her kick.

            “I can dream of a lot, Clint.” She said. She flipped back as he lurched forward with an arrow. “He take you to Asgard? No, no he’s probably still banned now right. Jotunheim?” She managed to land a kick on his chest, sending him back. She dove forward, sweeping his feet and sending him to the ground, hard. “Stay down.”

            “No - “ he kicked his feet up, but she was anticipating this, and sent him into the wall head-first. He slid to the ground.

            “I hate doing that, you’re going to get a complex.” She commented as she dragged him back closer to the back door of the building. After a moment, she grabbed his bow and stored it behind the trash bin.

            Two minutes later, she was walking from the bathroom to find Steve and Bruce chatting at the booth.

            “No, you’ve got it completely wrong,” Steve was saying. “John Savage was _Deer Hunter_ , no legs. John Voight was _Coming Home_ , couldn’t feel his legs.”

            “No way, you’re completely backwards. John Voight was…”

            What the hell were they talking about?

            Didn’t matter.

            “Steve!” Steve looked up with a grin. “Your cousin Clint called. He’s drunk again, apparently he’s at the back of your building and can’t figure out how to get in.” She arched an eyebrow and Steve nodded.

            “Oh great,” he said with a rather forced sigh, but it would do. “I’ll call Logan and ask him to come in and cover for me.”

            “I’ll call Phil and let him know we found him. Sorry Bruce, I have to help with this,” she said, turning back to Bruce.

            “No, family stuff, I totally understand.”

“I had a great lunch though,” she said with a smile. There was a beat, and then Steve gave a little start and hurried off to the bar to call his relief.

“Me too,” he said. His smile was hesitant, shy, but genuine. For a moment, Natasha imagined kissing him. He wouldn’t remember it, maybe he was even expecting it. But that made it worse, she wasn’t the Natalie he was looking for. She grabbed his hand and leaned up slightly to kiss his cheek.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said softly. One way or another.

“I’ll count on it,” he replied, just as quietly. She watched him, leave, softly biting her bottom lip.

“Are you looking at his butt?” Steve asked after about a minute, leaning down next to her. She glared, and then straightened up, pulling herself back to the mission.

“Just hoping this is going to work is all.”

“Hm,” was his only reply.

“I’m going to grab Clint and drag him upstairs, come up when that Logan guy gets here.”

“I’ll be up as soon as possible,” Steve said with a serious nod.


	4. I didn't ask for these feelings

 

Fifteen minutes later found Clint tied up on Steve’s comfortable couch, blearily waking up as Steve came jogging up the stairs.

“Faster than I expected,” Natasha commented.

“Well, apparently Logan teaches at some school every now and again and couldn’t come in until tonight like normal,” Steve said with a shrug. “So I just closed her down for a little bit, there was nobody else in there.”

“No, I was talking about Clint.”

“Natasha?” He asked, He let out a breath.

“Hey Clint, welcome back.” Natasha gave him a small smile. “Your eyes aren’t glowing anymore, that means we trust you.”

“Who the hell is this?”

“Hi, I’m Steve Rogers,” Steve offered. Clint stared, not seeming bothered in the slightest by the fact that he was bound for this conversation.

“Are you shitting me?” he asked after a beat, turning to Natasha.

“No, it’s him.”

“Well shoot me to hell, that’s something. Coulson’s going to flip his lid.” Clint blinked, and looked around as much as he could while still tied. “This… doesn’t look like New Mexico.” There was silence. Steve rocked forward on his feet, but Natasha shot him a look to keep it to himself. This was something Clint needed to reach on his own.

“It’s Brooklyn.” More silence.

“Tasha, how long was I out?” Clint winced, “Why can’t I remember anything?”

“I’m honestly not sure why you can’t remember, Clint.” Natasha said softly, sitting down next to him to untie the ropes.

“How long was I out?” Clint repeated, voice growing more serious.

“About two years.”

“Two years?” Clint started in a yell, but his voice broke about halfway through. He cleared his throat. “What happened? The last thing I remember is Puente Antiguo. Is the team okay? What happened with Dr. Foster? Is Coulson okay?”

“I called Coulson, he’s on his way. To the best of my knowledge, everyone is fine. Our current theory is that after the event, Loki struck back down and took you.”

“Why?” Clint rubbed at his wrists. Natasha recognized the pattern of his breathing as him calming himself down. “Why would he take me?”

“We’re not entirely sure,” Natasha admitted. She shared a quick look with Steve. Last time Clint’s proximity to the Tesserract and knowledge of Shield operations was key. This time, nothing major seems to have happened in the past two years to take advantage of that knowledge. “Do you remember any-“

“Natasha, what are you holding back?” Natasha held in a breath, and schooled her face blank. “Natasha, I just lost two years of my life. Two years of my life, and you are the only one who has any knowledge of how badly that sucks. I have no clue what I was doing for the past two years. If you are holding back on something I think I have earned your respect enough to hear it.”

“Clint,” he’d never believe her. Not now.

“We’re not from here,” Steve burst in. “We woke up, in the wrong place. We’re from a different… universe or something. Where we’re from, you didn’t go missing after Thor touched down, you supervised and guarded the Tesseract project, but Loki got to you with some sort of brainwashing staff magic what would be about a year ago, that’s one of our prime reasons for suspecting him,” Natasha gave a short sigh, and Cap was off. “Loki then proceeded to lead an alien invasion above Stark Tower into Manhattan, the Avengers initiative fought them off and eventually won. As I said, it’s been about a year since then. I woke up here, disoriented and confused, a week or so later, Natasha tells me she remembers. The current theory is that - “

“Clint, look. I know this sounds crazy but try to remember Puente Antiguo, okay? Remember the destroyer. That’s what we’re dealing with.” Clint was watching them both, he looked doubtful but not like he was going to find a way to take them down for their own safety.

“I’m not saying you’re crazy, because I’ve seen some pretty crazy shit. But how in the Hell am I supposed to believe you?”

“Give it a day,” Natasha said. “Sleep on it. Hopefully when you -“ she was interrupted by a knock on the door. “- wake up you’ll be, well, you as we know you.”

            “Natasha,” Coulson said. He was tense. “I got your message.” She took a step to the side, and he looked around the room before his eyes locked on the couch, where Clint was turning around.

            “Hello sir,” Clint said weakly. Coulson’s eyes went wide and he paled slightly.

            “Agent Barton.”

             “Clint, I’m going to grab you some water. Steve, can you show me where the glasses are?” Natasha said lightly, walking into the kitchen, grabbing Steve along the way. They weren’t listening any way.

            “Are they a thing?” Steve whispered as they leaned against the wall next to the fridge. “Because I didn’t know that either. Are you all secretly dating and just decided not to tell me?” Natasha rolled her eyes. “Does Thor meet up with Tony in his office for a nooner on Wednesdays or - “

            “Steve. Never say nooner again, please. Thor is still happily besotted with Dr. Foster, I am not dating Bruce, and Clint and Coulson are Clint and Coulson.” She was not getting in to Steve’s issues with Tony right now. Now was not the time.

            Now was, however, the time for Coulson to meet Captain America.

            This was going to be great.

                       

            Back in the living room, Clint and Coulson were now both sitting on the couch, watching Steve and Natasha as they walked back in.

            “Natasha, I think it’s time for you to explain,” Coulson said. He was still facing Clint, even as he watched the other two pace. “Why here, first of all. Who is this?”

            “My name is Steve,” Steve offered. He leaned forward to shake Coulson’s hand. Coulson took it without a change in expression.

            “Remember how I said in my world the Avenger’s Initiative took off? His too, this is Captain America.”

            Coulson cracked, and Natasha had a hard time blaming him. Shield Agents, soldiers, spies, government officials… they’re all trained to handle distress, torture, mind games. Handling mind games when you’re in the field is different than handling mind games when you’re sitting in your apartment brewing a cup of coffee and get pulled away by a friend, however.

            Having Natasha come to him yesterday, finding out that Clint was alive, seeing Clint whole and well, and then meeting Captain America added up to a bit too much for Phil Coulson’s calm.

            He smiled,

            He stuttered,

            And he took a moment to recover.

            “Hello,” he said after that moment, schooling his face back.

            “We assumed you may need to debrief Clint,” said Steve. “I mean, go over him. Figure out what he remembers and how we might be able to find Loki.” Natasha inwardly sighed as Cap grew more flustered. She stepped forward and took over.

            “Getting you here was easier than getting him to you would have been. Unfortunately, if you want to have any hopes of getting up to speed on this, you’ll need to give it a day. It took me overnight to wake up in the right mindset. And even then I don’t remember anything from before, so it might be better for us to figure this out now.”

            “What do you need to know?” Coulson asked.

            “Any leads you have on Loki,” Natasha said. “Even if we get the team assembled, with no information it’s going to be a stretch to get a track on Loki with no information. If you wake up tomorrow and forget everything, it will be hard to recover.” Coulson nodded and pulled out a tablet from his bag. He looked up as he began tapping on it.

            “I won’t show this to you until tomorrow, just in case.”

            “Understood,” Natasha replied. That was good enough for her, she would probably be less accommodating in reverse circumstances. Though this did lead to the question of what would happen if Coulson didn’t ‘wake up’ right.

            “I should probably get back down there,” Steve said after a moment. Natasha nodded.

            “Yeah, I have to get back to work too. I have a cover to uphold after all.” She paused, biting her lip. She walked closer and leaned down to give Clint a short hug. “If you need anything just call,” she said.


	5. I wasn't exactly asking for MORE feelings, but thanks

            “Would you stop staring at me Agent Barton? It’s distracting,” Coulson said lightly as he continued working on the tablet. Clint cleared his throat, glancing off to the side before looking back at Coulson.

            “I just… I don’t remember anything, but it still feels like I haven’t seen you in…”

            “Over two years?” Phil clarified. “Yes, I may be able to understand something of that.”

            “Coulson - “

            “Two years, Clint. Two years.” Coulson’s tone was still calm as he sat down the tablet, but Clint knew him well enough to read the tension in his muscles, the clench of his jaw as he spoke, the lines deepening on his forehead.

            “I’m sorry,” he said softly. And he was, he was so sorry. Whatever had happened, he was sorry.

            “I didn’t know if you were alive,” Coulson said. He was talking quietly now. Not looking at Clint, instead drumming his hands on his knees. “Anytime any hint of you would show up on a report, Maria would point out that you had probably just taken off.”

            “Coulson…”

            “She didn’t know, of course. I could hardly disagree with her though. I didn’t want to think you would leave without saying goodbye to anyone, but the alternative was that you were dead, Clint. Dead.”

            “Phil.” At this, Coulson turned to look at him. His expression was strained.

            “Don’t get compromised, Clint. We had one rule - don’t get compromised.”

            “Had, sir?” Clint asked. Coulson flinched, and he seemed to be struggling.

            “Two years Clint!” he exclaimed, finally giving in. He stood and started pacing. “Two years with no word.”

            “Hey,” Clint finally gave in too. “You’re acting like I asked for this! I didn’t ask for this! I don’t remember anything Coulson! I was taken, I was brainwashed, I was compromised and I didn’t do this to myself! I didn’t choose this!”

            “I know!” Coulson snapped. He put his hands on his hips and inhaled and exhaled.

            “Is there… I mean, did you move on? Two years with no word…” Clint trailed off, not sure where else he could go. Coulson turned his face away and Clint felt his stomach tighten up as Coulson looked up at the ceiling.

            “No, no I think it’s safe to say I didn’t move on.” He sounded tired, exhausted. “Clint, I… I am having a hard time believing that this is real right now.” He turned to look at Clint, he looked tired too, “I just need some time to process all of this. Let’s just focus on this for now. I know it’s not fair, but - ”

            “Right, yeah, can do sir,” Clint said with a nod. He could handle that, he could.

            “I believe Natasha said that she hid your bow in the alley, if you wanted to go and grab that.”

            “Sounds good.” Clint stood, rubbing his head. “I’ll be right back.” Coulson nodded, sitting back down and grabbing his tablet again.

 

            Clint took the steps down two at a time, and slipped past the bar as quietly as possible. Steve - Captain America, huh - was wiping down the surface of the bar, and he seemed to be humming along to the music.

            At least he was happy.

            Once out in the back alleyway, Clint muffled a scream into the crook of his arm. He kicked the wall, kicked it again, barely resisted the impulse to punch it for good measure. None of this was fair, none of this was okay.

            “If you’re listening you little bastard,” he said under his breath. “If you’re listening, know that we will find you, and we will beat the shit out of you. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

            Letting out a short breath, he scanned the alley for a place Natasha would be likely to hide his bow, and shortly found it behind the large dumpster. A splitting pain exploded in his temple, and was gone in a second.

            “Fuck,” he whispered, falling back against the wall and hitting the ground with a thump. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.” He threw the bow down, and laced his fingers together behind his neck, leaning to rest his head between his knees. “Fuck.”

 

            “Sorry I’m so late,” Natasha said as she entered the apartment carting a large brown bag of Chinese food. “Tony was in a bad mood and him and Pepper ended up having back-to-back meetings for a few hours to punish him.”

            She placed the bag on the coffee table and looked over. Clint was asleep, leaning against Coulson.

            “How long has he been out?” She asked quietly, unpacking cartons and chopsticks.

            “Since shortly after you left,” Coulson replied. He shifted slightly and leaned forward to grab the moo shu pork. “Found him passed out in the alley when he went to grab his bow.”

            “I checked him for a concussion,” Natasha said with a frown.

            “I’m sure mental invasion just takes a bit to recover from,” Coulson said lightly as he cracked open the chopsticks.

            “Would you like to talk about it?” Natasha asked, watching him carefully.

            “No,” Coulson replied.

            “It’s not his fault Coulson.”

            “You think I don’t know that?” Coulson replied. “Do you think that makes it any easier?”

            “No, I suppose it doesn’t,” Natasha murmered after a moment.

            “What time should Captain America come back?” Coulson asked.

            “I’m not sure. Yesterday I met up with Steve for dinner around nine, so maybe then?” She glanced at her phone again. It was a little after eight. “I wonder who he is.”

            “Captain America?” Coulson clarified.

            “Or at least who he is right now,” Natasha said with a nod. “Cap’s supposed to still be on ice, right? So who is this guy?”

            “We could always do a little digging around his apartment, find out,” Coulson pointed out. Then he froze.

            “Clint! Cut that out,” Natasha snapped. Clint cracked open one eye, and slowly withdrew his hand from where it had been crawling up under Coulson’s shirt.

            “Thanks Natasha, do you know how long it took me to practice waking up without him knowing?” he sighed and sat up, pressing a kiss to Coulson’s jaw before reaching over and plucking a mushroom from his Chinese food carton. He leaned back on the couch, arms slung wide so one could casually drape around Coulson. “So what’s up, where are we?” he didn’t seem alarmed.

            And he was back.

            “Excuse me for one second,” Coulson said haltingly. He stood and walked stiffly into the kitchen.

            “You okay Sir?” Clint called, leaning over the back of the couch. He looked concerned. Coulson waved a hand at him before disappearing around the corner of the doorway. Clint turned back around and frowned at Natasha. “Is he okay? What’s wrong?”

            “We’re in a wrong reality and in this reality, _his_ Clint has been missing for two years,” Natasha summed up. “You, Steve, and myself are the only ones who have been able to realize that this is the wrong place; we may be the only ones who are misplaced. Now sit here and eat some Chinese food, I’m going to go check on Coulson.”

            “Wait, but - “

            “Stay.”

            “Loki, you little shit,” Clint hissed. 

 

            “Coulson,” Natasha said softly as she walked into the kitchen. “Coulson are you okay?” Coulson was leaning against a counter - both arms braced out to steady himself.

            “I’ve been better,” he said shortly. “Is that… what they’re like, where you’re from?”

            “Sometimes,” Natasha replied. “They’re a lot more open with me, I don’t think anyone else in the tower knows they’re together for sure. Clint’s always more handsy than… our Coulson is, but overall yeah. They’re Clint and Coulson.”

            “Okay then,” Coulson said. He let a deep breath in and a deep breath out. “Let’s get you crazy kids back where you belong. Let’s do a bit of investigation on the guy who lives here.”

            “Coulson - ”

            “Let’s get you home.”


	6. That Other Tag Makes an Appearance

           Steve was glad when Logan slipped into the back to sign in. He did enjoy working at the bar, for the most part. It was interesting to talk to different people, and that old adage of people telling their bartenders everything was very true. But today, with a chunk of his team upstairs waiting for him, he couldn’t stop himself from watching the clock and counting down the minutes until 9:00.

            Right behind Logan, however, came Tony. Steve froze, the towel he was using to wipe down the bar dropping from his hands. It was strange, he acknowledged, to have such a reaction when one of your best friends walked through a door.

            It was also strange, though, that he was in wrong reality and in this reality he and one of his best friends seemed to have a different sort of relationship.

            If he were being completely honest, Steve had to admit that he had thought about kissing Tony a few times; several times, actually. But there was a difference between imagining what that would be like and getting pinned against the wall and ravaged. This Tony was surprisingly strong.

            “Hey,” he said.

            “Hi,” Steve replied, watching him.

            “Do you have time to talk?” Tony asked, glancing up from behind his sunglasses. This was around the time that they had ‘talked’ earlier, so Steve would hazard a guess that Tony knew his schedule pretty well. Still, it was nice of him to ask. “Just talk,” Tony said after a pause. He took off his sunglasses and propped them on his head. “I promise.”

            “Uh, sure,” Steve said. He looked over to where Logan was coming from the back room. “I’m off now, actually.”

            “Great,” Tony said. He rubbed his hands together and followed Steve as he ducked into the alley.

            “So what did you want to talk about?” Steve asked.

            “Well, I wanted to apologize.” Tony said. Steve frowned a bit. “I realize that last week when - ah, when I said that I may have been a bit too forward, too caught up in the moment.”

            What was he talking about? Would it really have been so terrible to have _some_ of this Steve’s memories? Because to Steve, it sounded an awful lot like…

            “You said you loved me?” that was probably too much of a question, but Tony seemed too flustered to notice.

            “Yes, well… I realize it was crazy. I mean, we don’t… I ah. I’m sorry for freaking you out.”

            Steve blinked, how on earth was he supposed to respond to that without ruining something for either this Steve or this Tony? It sounded like Tony had told this Steve that he loved him, this Steve had freaked out and fled, and then he got switched.

            Talk about terrible timing.

            “So anyway, I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone now.” Tony said, turning to walk off.

            “Tony, wait.” Steve said. Tony stopped and Steve resisted the urge to yell. What was he doing? He should let him walk off and these two could work it out later. Tony turned, arching an eyebrow. “Look, I’m not… myself right now. And I don’t feel comfortable giving you an answer right now.”

            “Right,” Tony said. He started to walk again and Steve grabbed his shoulder. Tony shrugged it off, but stopped.

            “No, Tony… I can’t explain this to you without sounding insane, but I’m not me. Well, I think I’m me, but I’m in a… a wrong reality.” Tony’s eyebrows drew down, and he frowned.

            “Steve, if you really don’t want this anymore, just say so.”

            “I’m being honest, I’m not the Steve you said you loved two weeks ago.”

            “Prove it.” Tony said, crossing his arms.

            “I know you’re Iron Man,” Steve said. Tony’s eyebrows shot up, but he didn’t change his stance. “And I know that Bruce is The Hulk, I know that the arc reactor in your chest keeps you alive. I know that -“

            “Okay, hold on,” Tony said, holding up a hand and using the other to pinch the bridge of his nose. “How on earth could you possibly know that?”           

            “I… my Tony and I are close.”

            “How close?”

            “Very close.”

            “Okay, so you and… that Tony are very close, close enough that you’ve seen his arc reactor.” Steve nodded, “So what - you live with him?” Steve nodded again. “Do you love him?”

            “I…” Steve trailed off, looking back over the conversation; that was one conclusion to reach. “No, I just… I love him. Oh my God, I love Tony Stark.” He took a few steps back until the brick of the building was solid against his back. Tony crooked an eyebrow at him and gave a little smirk.

            “Is that really so bad?” he clarified.

            “No, no I just… I never realized it before. I love Tony Stark. I love the way he takes care of his bots and treats Dummy like some sort of robot child; I love the way he’s actually sweet once you get past his rough edges and I love getting past them; I love the way he teases Bruce but would do anything to keep him safe; I love the way he sings along to his music, but only when it’s playing so loud that he can’t hear himself; I love the way he gave me a home, a team, a family when I had nothing; I love… I love Tony Stark.”

            “So this is new.” Tony said. He looked contemplative. “You guys aren’t dating?”

            “No. Not even… I don’t even think he’s attracted to men,” Steve said quietly.

            “Really? Weird.” Tony said, giving a low whistle. “Sounds like your Tony has some issues.”

            “You could say that,” Steve muttered.

            “Or you’re just a bit slow,” Tony pointed out.  Steve frowned, thinking of Clint and Coulson.

            “That is also a possibility.”

            “Okay,” Tony said. “So what’s your plan? You seem great and everything, but I’d rather have my Steve; even if he did run away from me. And I suspect,” he crooked an eyebrow and smirked again “that your Tony’s going to want you back too.”

            “Uh, well. Natasha’s displaced too, and she got Coulson on-board. We think Loki has something to do with it, he normally does. I think Coulson’s pulling up some of the data he’s been able to find from past ops to try and track his location, see what he’s doing and why he’s doing it.”

            “That’s not going to work,” Tony said. He was frowning, Steve could practically see the data scrolling in front of his eyes.

            “What?”

            “Loki, he’s a bit player. He’s powerful, he has magic, but he wouldn’t have the ability to mess around with alternative realities. At least not real ones, and I personally feel pretty real - no offence.”

            “Loki’s out and about, Tony. In my reality he led a siege on New York a year ago. There has to be a reason that he didn’t do anything here.”

            “Okay, I need to talk to Coulson.” Tony said.

            “Oh, okay, well. I think he’s still upstairs. We set up a little base of operations in my apartment. Ah, come on.” He motioned Tony back inside.

            “Taking me up to your place already? You are much easier than my Steve,” Tony quipped.

            “Yeah, well, let’s get him back.” At this, Tony’s face turned serious, and he nodded.

            “Let’s.”

           

            “Steve, we saved some chicken fried rice for you,” Natasha called as he came in through the door.

            “Cap! This you has two of those model light sabers. Do you want to battle?” Clint asked, jogging into the room. He was indeed holding two light sabers, one green and one blue. “Hey Stark, you can take winner.”

            “Stark?” Natasha came out of the kitchen, wiping off her hands with a towel. “You brought him here?”

            “He said our plan wasn’t going to work and that he could help,” Steve said weakly with a shrug. “I want to go home.”

            “If you have any ideas Stark I’d love to hear them,” Coulson drawled, glancing over from the couch.

            “Words I love to hear,” Tony said with a smirk. He took of his jacket and started rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt.

            “Hold on, so this isn’t our Stark?” Clint asked. Tony glanced over and frowned at him.

            “Who are you? Doesn’t matter, I want to get you guys where you’re supposed to be and get my people back where they’re supposed to be. Even you, whoever you are.”

            “Right,” Clint said. He turned to Steve. “So, Steve, light sabers?” Steve glanced over to the couch. Tony had sat down next to Coulson, pulled out his phone, and was now pulling out holograms and talking in numbers.

            “Sure,” he said with a shrug.


	7. It's time to wake up

            It was three o’clock in the morning. Clint, Tony, and Steve had all crowded onto Steve’s bed, while Natasha took the couch and Coulson slept on the floor. Except.

            “Coulson, you should sleep. Big plans tomorrow,” Natasha said softly. Even at her quietest, the words were loud in the quiet of the night.

            “I will sleep,” he responded. “I’m just thinking about what happens after we get you guys home.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “Well, I’d like to think we’ll hold on to some of these memories,” Coulson said. “We’re basically a miniature Avenger’s Initiative right here, what will that mean? Furthermore, Loki is still out there somewhere here, he’s still pulling strings.”

            “Clint should be fine when we leave Coulson. Just to be safe, I’ll talk to Stark in the morning. After the siege on New York, he developed some magic-detecting technology that can disable Loki’s hold.”

            “That would be useful.”

            The room was quiet.

            “You two still have a shot,” Natasha said, barely a whisper.

            “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Coulson replied. “But if I did, I feel the need to remind you that he has been gone for two years. Two years is a good chunk of time at the beginning of a relationship. The two of us in your world, apparently, are strong and steady; comfortable with one another; completely trusting. He didn’t blink an eye at waking up leaning on me in an unfamiliar place. My… Agent Barton and I weren’t there yet.”

            “You can still get there,” Natasha said.

            “I don’t know if we can, Natasha. I just… I want to make sure I remember this, to remember what I’m fighting for. If I do lose him again, I want to have this last for as long as possible.”

            “Go to sleep Coulson,” Natasha said. “There’s nothing you can do now.”

 

            Tony Stark woke up with his head resting on a broad muscled chest clad in a blue shirt with a star on it that could only belong to Steve Rogers. He spared a moment to wonder if he was still dreaming, but found that he couldn’t remember what he was dreaming about, or where he was for that matter. That coupled with a slight burning headache was enough to indicate that he was not still asleep.

            Seriously, where was he? And what could have possibly happened to result in him sleeping cuddled up next to Steve, with his head on his chest and one of Steve’s arms draped around him.

            It really felt like he was still dreaming, other than the headache.

            “For fuck’s sake, go back to sleep Stark,” came Clint’s voice from the other side of Steve.

            Okay, that made it quite a bit less likely that this was some sort of drunken embarrassing event. There was not enough alcohol in the world for Tony to risk Coulson’s wrath.

            Damn Steve smelled good.

            Sleep sounded like a good idea. Tony felt like he would be less likely to freak the fuck out of Steve by kissing a line up his neck and jaw if he were asleep.

            Plus his head was killing him.

            Tony Stark fell back asleep.

 

            Phil Coulson woke up with a burning headache laying on the floor of an unfamiliar room. He went still, listening close for any hints of his location. He could faintly hear Natasha talking to who he was fairly certain was Steve in a nearby room. A kitchen maybe, it sounded like something was cooking in a pan.

            Clint chimed in, he sounded faintly upset. Secure in the knowledge that his ducks were in a row - Thor was his own duck, and Tony would be fine if the rest of the team seemed fine - he sat up, rubbing at his head. He could pick up the conversation better.

            “No, you’re not going to go and wake him up,” Natasha was saying in a steady voice. “The man had a long night, put yourself in his shoes.”

            “Well yeah,” Clint sounded oddly sobered by this, Phil tried to search his brain for what they could possibly be talking about. “But when he wakes up he won’t be him, he’ll be… ours.”

            “It’s the principle of the thing Clint, let Coulson sleep.”

            “I think he’s awake, actually.” Steve offered. He was looking through the doorway of the kitchen, and smiled when he caught Phil’s eye. Phil smiled back, then winced at the pain that shot through his head. He stood.

            “He’s what?” Clint demanded. In seconds he was around the corner and wrapping Phil in a tight hug.

            “Barton, what are you - ?” Phil asked, even as his arms went up to pull him a bit closer.

            “I missed you sir,” Clint said, voice muffled into the crook of his neck. “We’ll catch you up in a second, but… I missed you.” Phil closed his eyes a moment, holding on to the hug. Then it seemed like it was time to get down to business.

            “It seems I have a lot to get caught up with,” he said softly, as Clint released him from the hug. “You seem practically maudlin.” Clint’s smile went tight.

            “Natasha, do you have Bruce’s number? Maybe get him over here and we can explain it all at once,” Steve suggested. Natasha glanced down at her phone and frowned a little bit.

            “I don’t actually, Stark probably does if you want to wake him up.”

            “Maybe we should let him wake up on his own time, you know what he’s like when he’s woken up too early.” Steve said.

            “Steve I think the bacon’s burning,” was Natasha’s only reply. Steve shuffled out of view from the kitchen door.

            “What’s going on?” Phil whispered to Clint. Clint considered for a moment.

            “Basically we’re sort of… hanging out in an alternate reality?”

            “What?”

            “The Avenger’s Initiative never took off. We’re here in this world for some reason, not sure why but…” Clint shrugged. “Talking to Cap seems to snap us out of it after a good sleep, so we’ve been waiting to group up.” That barely answered Phil’s question at all, and he opened his mouth to demand clarification, but was interrupted by a loud buzzing. Clint slid over to the box.

            “Hello?”

            “Clint it’s Bruce, can you let me up?” Natasha, who had walked over at the buzz, shared a confused look with Clint but shrugged.

            “Come on up buddy,” Clint said, buzzing him in. He turned to Natasha, “how does he know where to find us if he just woke up?”

            “Maybe he didn’t sleep?”

            “He knew who I was; Stark didn’t.”

            “Wait, are you saying Bruce is remembering things?” Steve asked, suddenly beside them.

            “Maybe,” Natasha said, she frowned. “Maybe that implies that we all could if we tried hard enough.”

            “Oh.” Steve sounded odd, but shrugged off the confused look that Natasha gave him and went back into the kitchen.

            “What did he do?” Clint asked Natasha in an undertone.

            “I don’t know,” Natasha replied.

            “I’d still like some clarification,” Phil said. They both turned to him.

            “That’s fair,” Natasha said. “Clint go wake up Tony.”

            “Don’t bother,” Stark said with a yawn as he walked into the living room from the small hallway. “I smelled bacon.”

            “Did you sleep in your suit?” Natasha asked, looking amused. Stark glowered at her; with his hair going in all directions from the sleep it was a funny look.

            “I don’t remember. Care to tell me what you all are whispering about in here that may have to do with the fact that I’m waking up with a headache and no memory in Steve’s depressing flat in a suit I do not remember putting on?” mostly ignoring his grumbling, Natasha answered the door.

            “So, alternate reality. This is terrifying but I’m hoping you guys have started on a plan to fix it?” Bruce said as he walked through the door.

            “You remember? I didn’t remember anything when I woke up,” Clint said with a frown. Phil suddenly had a flash of Clint’s face, more upset, very upset, there was yelling. He put a hand to his temple, wincing at another flash of pain.

            “I remember some stuff,” Bruce said. “Not all of it.” He paused, “Wait, so none of you remember?”

            “Remember what?” Stark growled. Bruce shot him an amused look.

            “Maybe you’ll remember the past few days with some coffee,” he suggested. From the kitchen there was the sound of a few pieces of silverware dropping, which was not helping with the headache in the least.

            “Breakfast is ready,” Steve said, sticking his head into the room. “I think I found chairs enough for everyone.”

            “We’ll explain in there sir,” Clint said in an undertone as he passed by Phil, grabbing his hand and squeezing it lightly. Phil winced again as yet another scene shot through his memory; Clint lying on the floor in an alley, panic, so much panic, feeling his hand, feeling for a pulse. He shook the pain away and squeezed Clint’s hand back, earning a slightly surprised smile.

            “Okay, so…” Steve started talking as everyone settled around the tiny table, but Phil was distracted by Natasha cupping her hands around the mug of coffee; He almost expected the flash of pain this time, but couldn’t help flinching just the same. His apartment, Natasha calling, discussing the initiative, protocol 6…

            “We really are in an alternate dimension,” he whispered, eyes wide. Steve closed his mouth.

            “Well, yes.” He frowned, “are you remembering things too?”

            “I keep getting triggered by things - Natasha and I had breakfast yesterday, it was only yesterday. We talked about the initiative. It didn’t happen here, nothing came together. He frowned, feeling his pace quicken as things started trickling together, he turned to look at Clint, who was staring at him, looking alarmed. He squeezed his hand under the table.

            “Okay, hold on a second.” Stark said, leaning his elbows on the table as he hunched forward in his seat. He had already gone through a cup and a half of coffee. “Alternate dimensions? Alternate worlds? So like what - a butterfly flapped it’s wings wrong and suddenly everything is different?”

            “I don’t - “ Steve started.

            “Many worlds theory,” Bruce said firmly. Stark closed his mouth before nodding, looking contemplative. Bruce turned back to Steve with an apologetic look, but Steve shook it off, motioning for him to go on, “Essentially, if we’re extending Tony’s thought here, Steve is that Butterfly.” Steve looked quietly bemused, and Natasha cut even as Stark opened his mouth to talk.

            “Talking to him triggered waking up ourselves. In this world, Captain America is supposed to still be lost in the ice somewhere.” At this, all of Stark’s face fell into a deep frown.

            “Wait, so Cap is still frozen out there? We couldn’t send them some coordinates to go and get him out?” His voice was stern.

            “Do you really want to meddle in this world, Tony? I know you have at least some vague idea of the things that could result of that,” Bruce’s tone left no room for argument, and Tony sunk back into his chair, pulling out his phone and glaring at it.

            “If Captain America is still lost, then who is Steve right now?” Phil had to ask. Natasha and Steve shared a frown, and Clint shifted lower in his seat.

            “We’re not sure,” Steve said after a moment. “There doesn’t seem to be any thing here that give any sense of identity. We couldn’t even find a wallet.”

            “Someone’s meddling,” Stark said with a dramatic finger point. “Are we thinking Loki?”

            “This Tony seemed pretty sure it wasn’t Loki,” Steve said. “At least he seemed sure that if it was Loki, he wasn’t working alone.”

            “Does this Steve exist at all? Maybe you were supplanted here while the rest of us were just placed in other consciousnesses,” Phil suggested.

            “No,” came from Bruce. “I don’t remember much, but I am certain that Steve was a familiar face to this Bruce. Bartender downstairs, right?” he asked, turning to Steve. Steve nodded, looking a bit flustered. From the corner of his eye, Phil could see Stark frown slightly.

            “I saw a few Stark employees stop by the bar in the past week,” Steve confirmed.

            “You’ve been here a week?” Bruce voiced Phil’s first thought.

            “Why would Stark employees come here,” Stark asked. “This is Brooklyn, the main buildings of Stark Industries is in Manhattan - in the tower.”

            “I don’t know,” Steve replied. He turned back to Bruce. “Yeah, about a week. Natasha got a hold of me yesterday, and you guys woke up today.”

            “So talking to you triggered it?” Stark asked. He leaned back in his chair and frowned at Bruce, “what were you doing at a bar?”

            “I had a date,” Bruce said shortly.

            “You date here? I think I like this you better.” Bruce rolled his eyes, not responding to the bait.

            “The point is,” Natasha said. “Now we have you all back.”

            “What about Thor?” Phil asked.

            “You did some digging to see if there was any Thor-like occurrence, mainly with Dr. Foster’s work. You didn’t find anything. I think it’s safe to say that if Loki is involved, he did not bring his brother into it.” Steve said, an air of finality in his words.

            “Okay,” Stark said. “Now what? Now we’re all back, what do we do? What’s the plan Cap?” They all turned to Steve.

            “We find out who Loki was working with,” Steve said.

            “A.I.M,” every turned to Bruce. “It has to be A.I.M, who else would have the technology to go between realities? Loki has abilities, sure, but he needs power - that’s why he targeted the Tesseract.”

           “I don’t know,” Stark was frowning down at Phil’s tablet, which hadn’t actually realized he had left. “I have to agree with this me - what’s Loki’s play? He has nothing to gain by switching us around. No, I don’t think Loki’s a factor.”

           “But he had me,” Clint said quietly.

           “He had you before,” Stark pointed out. “That could be a separate plot he was working on that got interrupted by this one.”

           “Why though?”

           “It’s not about us,” Steve said slowly, softly. Phil could practically see him turning it over in his mind, “Well, it is, but it’s about our world. In this world, Iron Man is the only hero. He’s the only one out making sure nothing bad is going on. So, if they can get the non-hero versions of us to replace us - “

           “- then there’s not much stopping them from launching something big,” Phil finished as the realization hit.

           “Shit,” Clint muttered.

           “Okay, okay,” Stark said, leaning forward over the table again. “so they switch us out, so what? They did it because we’re a threat. Surely they know that we can find a way back.”

           “Not if we’re vulnerable and ignorant,” Natasha said softly. Phil felt a spike of fear and shared a look with Clint.

           “Okay, everyone to the tower,” Tony said. “Let’s move!”


	8. Resolutions aren't always endings when you really think about it

            “I don’t like this,” Steve muttered. Natasha had gone off into his room to change into her catsuit. Clint looked up from where he was reassembling his bow.

            “I have a spare gun if you want it,” he offered.

            “No, not that,” Steve replied. “It feels like a trap.”

            “Of course it’s a trap,” Clint said with a snort. “That doesn’t mean we can just ignore it though. We don’t have much of a choice.”

            “Well, that’s true at least,” Steve agreed.

            “It’ll be fine Cap, we always find a way,” Clint said with certainty.

            Nothing catastrophic happened on the way to the tower, all of them squished in the back of Tony’s limo even as Happy pushed through traffic as Tony told Pepper through the phone to get everyone out of the tower, clear the place within 20 minutes and go home too.   

            Nothing horrible happened on the way into the tower, as Tony called his armor where it was waiting on the first floor, and nothing exploded as Tony put the armor on.

            “What now?” Clint asked, looking around.

            “I’m… not sure,” Tony admitted. “I kind of expected something to happen once we got here. Jarvis, pull up the - ”

            And then the entire tower went dark.

            “Stark?”

            “Well that’s not supposed to happen,” Tony grumbled. “I mean literally, we have back-up generators.”

            “Avengers, we’ve been waiting for you.” They turned as figures emerged from the shadows, all wearing yellow jumpsuits. “It’s rude to be so late.”

            “So are all evil villans supposed to have British accents?” Tony asked, he didn’t seem to concerned. “Because I should probably make an extra note to Shield to watch the Isles.”

            “I am the Grand Supreme, leader of Advanced Idea Mechanics.”

            “Yeah, stupid crazy tech thieves. I’m familiar with your work.” Tony said, he flipped the mask down and held up his hands, preparing to attack. “I hope you’re familiar with mine.”

            “Not so fast Mr. Stark,” the Grand Supreme said, he held up the gun he was holding. It was different from the weapon the yellow suits had trained on them, and it was glowing slightly in the barrel. “Did you not notice your tower is shut down? Your arc reactor technology negated? Make one more move and your suit will be the next thing shut down; let us see how you enjoy being encased in unmovable metal.”

            “Bullshit,” was Tony’s first reaction, but he stopped moving anyway, arms still held in the defensive pose. Steve felt a stab of alarm, if Tony’s arc reactor stopped working it wouldn’t just power down the suit, it would power down his heart. He looked to Natasha, who shook her head a smidge - not yet.

            “Wise choice. I’ll admit when the Grand Supreme from your world contacted me, I didn’t quite believe it. But this… well, this is too good to be true. Not only will I be able to eliminate Tony Stark, but all of these other lovely personal threats.”

            “Fuck you,” Clint said.

            “Avengers Assemble!” Steve yelled, throwing his shield at the gun in the Grand Supreme’s hand, the man let out a curse as it dropped, and then a louder curse as Steve tackled him to the ground.

            “Somebody get the gun!” Natasha shouted as the group moved into action. Coulson dove for it, but the gun got booted across the room by a yellow shoe, Coulson turned and shot its knee, sending the figure down.

            “Agent Barton, do you have it?”

            “I can hit it it that’s what your asking,” Clint said as he jammed the blunt side of his bow into a jump suited stomach so hard that the person inside of it collapsed.

            “Don’t!” Steve said, giving the Grand Supreme one last punch to the head for good measure. “We don’t know what that would do.”

            “Destroy it?”

            “Or possibly amplify it,” Tony said, “We need to make sure it didn’t do anything permanent to the reactor powering the tower first.” 

            “Get it to me and I’ll try and figure it out,” Bruce came over the comm system.

            “You got it big guy,” Tony said.

            “Don’t get shot.”

            “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Tony said as he turned to find the Grand Supreme pointing the weapon at him again. “You know you’re going to lose, right? Why even bother?” Steve heard Clint notch an arrow.

            “Say goodbye to your armor Mr. Stark,” the Grand Supreme said.

            “Tony move!” Steve exclaimed, diving for the Grand Supreme.

            “Alley oop!” An unfamiliar voice rang out, Steve glanced up in time to see the armor pulled away from the shot as if on elastic. “Anyone ever tell you that your armor weighs a ton there buddy?”

            “Spider-Man?” Clint said blankly.

            “The one and only,” Spidey replied, even as he blasted two of the AIM agents in their helmets with his webbing.

            “I thought you said there weren’t any other superheroes in this world,” Natasha said, turning to Steve.

            “There weren’t!” Steve replied. This time he fastened zipties around the Grand Supreme’s wrists.

            “There’s no me here?” Spidey asked. “Sad day - this world is so deprived.” He was wrapping up a group of the goons.

            “Wait, you’re from the right world.”

            “Yeah, he said you could use some back-up.”

            “Who - “

            “That would be me, Captain Rogers,” Steve winced as a bright circle of blue light appeared, and a man came gliding through. Clint notched another arrow.

            “Stephen Strange,” Coulson stated.

            “You would be Shield Agent Coulson, yes?” the man, apparently Stephen Strange, replied. He landed lightly on his feet.

            “Yes. What exactly are you doing here?” Coulson asked.

            “The mystic energies were off, it was not difficult to ascertain the cause. Unfortunately I had to wait until each of you regained consciousness before I could help.”

            “Mystic energies?” Tony repeated, the faceplate went up. “Sounds like a whole lot of crap to me.” Strange shot him a bland look.

            “Magic, Tony.” Bruce said as he walked into the room.

            “I hate magic,” Tony growled under his breath.

            “I know you do buddy.”

            “So you can get us home?” Clint clarified.

            “Yes I can, Agent Barton.” Clint frowned.

            “How do you know my name?” Steve sighed in relief, it looked like things were wrapping up pretty well. He glanced to the side to see Spider-Man watching him. At his confused look, Spider-Man straightened up, and started rubbing the back of his neck.

            “Sorry, I ah - I’m a fan.” He said. Steve smiled and Spider-Man let out a small squeak before power walking over to where Strange was talking to Agent Coulson.  

            “Well I am ready to get the Hell out of Dodge,” Clint said with relish. “Let’s roll.”

            “Very well,” Strange said. He made some hand gestures that Steve didn’t recognize from Clint’s crash course and another circle of blue light appeared in the air. “Would you like to go first Agent Barton?”

            “Ooh, wait! I should probably go tell them to get ready,” Spidey said. He webbed a line to the ceiling and swung through the circle, disappearing through to the other side.

            “That is very very disturbing,” Tony stated.

            “You should probably take of the armor and leave it for this Tony,” Bruce pointed out. Tony nodded and flew over to his landing pad, where the little robots started to take off the armor. It was always fascinating to watch, and Steve was distracted enough to jump when Spidey popped back through.

            “They’re ready!” He called before entering in the portal again.

            “Kid is way too excited with this magic.”

            “He was very uncomfortable with it at first,” Strange said with a small smile. “I think he is attempting to rationalize it and is trying not to think too much.”

            “Yeah yeah, go on in Barton. Tell us if the water’s nice,” Tony grumbled. 

            “We’ll be right behind you,” Coulson said.

            “I’m not scared,” Clint said with a huff. “I just think it’s going to be weird to see doppelgangers,” with that he walked through the portal. After a few seconds, a second Natasha came through from the other side. She frowned at the other Natasha, who frowned back.

            “Go, Coulson.” Natasha said with a tilt of her head. “I’ll be right behind you.” The other Natasha furrowed her brow for a second, but then seemed to see whatever else Natasha was saying and gave a small nod as Coulson walked through.

            “This is dull,” Tony grumbled. He perked up a little as the other Bruce was the next to walk through. “Oooohh, two Bruces.”

            “Tony no,” both Bruce’s responded immediately. Natasha rolled her eyes with a little smile, walking through the portal.

             “But science!” Tony exclaimed. Their Tony was next, and he walked over to Steve immediately.

            “Told you he’d miss you,” he muttered quietly, leaning over closer to Steve.

            “You remember?” Steve asked in a whisper, feeling his face flush.

            “No need to be embarrassed Steve-o,” not-Tony said with a grin, wrapping his arm around Steve’s waist. Bruce left through the portal, shaking his head.

            “Stark, stop that.” Natasha - the other Natasha, Steve supposed - ordered. “You’re making him uncomfortable.”

            “Hey, we bonded!” Tony said with an exaggerated pout, but he did drop his arm. He looked up at Steve “We bonded, right?”

            “It was nice to meet you,” Steve said, headed for the portal. “Tony is it alright if I - ” he looked towards his Tony, surprised to see that he had a rather deep frown on his face.

            “Go ahead,” Tony said after a moment, schooling his face back into a grin. “Best is for last and all that.”

            “Send my Steve back, would you?” the other Tony called as Steve faded through the portal.

            It was a rush, too many lights and colors, it was hot and cold, and intense. And then it was over, and he was walking back in Stark Tower. He blinked, and acknowledged how strange it was to be looking at himself.

            “Ah, your Tony says hey,” he said. The other Steve gave a small little smile and shook his head.

            “Really, it’s been like 2 minutes,” Clint said, rolling his eyes. Steve determined that this was the right Clint, he was wearing the same gear as on the other side of the portal.

            “You should go next,” the other Clint said. He was staring at the portal rather distrustfully.

            “You sure?” the other Steve asked. Clint nodded. “It’ll turn out okay, Clint,” he said as he went through. There was a beat.

            “They’re totally fucking aren’t they?” Clint asked. “I called it, other-Stark was all over you man. That is awkward.”

            “Shut up Barton,” Coulson said with a sigh.

            “Sorry sir, won’t happen again for at least ten minutes.”

            “I only ask what I can,” Coulson replied drily.

            “I have returned!” Tony exclaimed as he walked through. “Jarvis did you miss me buddy?”

            “Like burning, sir.” Jarvis replied. It sounded like he was sighing, could computers sigh?

            “You’re up last wrong-Legolas,” Tony said. To Steve’s confusion, he grabbed the other Clint’s hand in a shake. “enjoy your weirdo world.”

            The other Clint frowned down at his hand after Tony let it go, after a beat he nodded, a small smile on his face.

            “You too, you crazy megalomaniac.”

            “Miss you too!” Tony called as the other Clint walked away through the portal.

            “What did you give him?” Steve asked quietly as Tony walked over. Tony leaned closer.

            “A little mind insurance. Loki’s not going to get a hold on him again.” Steve smiled.

            “Well that was messed up,” Clint said after a short pause. “Let’s never do that again.”

            “Well, those other guys managed to take down the AIM guys too,” Spider-Man offered from where he was hanging from the ceiling. “They had some trouble, but we managed to get it done.”

            “Thanks for your help, Spider-Man,” Steve said. Spidey swung a little on his webbing and hopped to the ground.

            “Yeah, no problem. Uh, anytime I can help.” They all turned back to the portal as it started growing brighter and Strange glided through it again, closing it up behind him.

            “All should be well,” he stated.

            “Excellent,” Tony said. He clasped his hands together. “I’m starving. Who’s up for going out to eat, huh?” Clint shrugged.

            “I can normally eat.”

            “Where’s Thor?” Steve wondered, glancing around.

            “My Friends, You Have Returned!” Thor exclaimed, coming in to land and striding quickly through to grab Steve and Tony - the closest - into a crushing hug.

            “Hey Thor, we missed you too buddy.”

            “The Doctor informed me that my aiding in your retrieval would have dire consequence, I am relieved it went well! Let us feast in celebration and tell tales of your exploits in another dimension!”

            “A feast sounds great,” Clint said. He stood, and pulled Coulson up too.

            “Let us dine at the International House of Pancakes!” Thor suggested.

            “I veto that,” Natasha said as she followed behind him. The group had gone out quite a few times in full uniform, it didn’t look like this was going to be different.

            “Can’t we just order in something?” Bruce suggested helplessly, even as he followed.

            “Oh, pizza sounds great!” Clint said. “Let’s go get some pizza.”

            “Doctor Strange would you like to join us?” Coulson asked. Strange shook his head.

            “No, I have business elsewhere thank-you.” With a nod he disappeared.

            “Magic,” Tony grumbled, crossing his arms. He looked over at Spider-Man, “You up for pizza, Spidey?”

            “Really?” Spider-Man asked. “Yeah, thanks!”

            He paraded after Clint, followed by Tony at a slower pace. Steve went last, glancing around the place as he left, glad to be home.

 

            “Thanks for the save back there, Cap.” Tony said, glancing over at Steve as he waited for Tony to finish programming the lock.

            “Didn’t work that well anyway,” Steve said with a small frown.

            “You got the gun away from him,” Tony pointed out.

            “For all of two minutes,” Steve replied.

            “You’re too hard on yourself,” Tony said with a wave of his hand. He turned away from the door.

            “Tony. You would have died,” Steve stated. Tony rolled his eyes. “Tony.” Steve repeated he reached out to grab Tony’s shoulder, but the other man shrugged it off.

            “Steve, I almost die _all of the time_.” He tapped the arc reactor. “I tend not to dwell on it too much. I didn’t die Steve,” he added when Steve continued to frown. “So, ah, don’t kill me for this okay?”

            “Wha - ” and then Tony had backed him into the wall and was kissing him.   

            When Steve had been caught off-guard by the other Tony in that other reality, it had been intense - a hot, sudden, and hard kiss born of habit and passion. This kiss was hesitant; and ended far to quickly for Steve’s tastes. He hadn’t had time to react, too shocked before Tony pulled away. Then he figured he had about ten seconds before the other man either flees or makes a joke.

            “Wait,” his arms reach out of their own accord to grab Tony before he can do the former. “What was - ?”

            “My other… self, I guess, the other Tony implied heavily that he had… well, that. I wanted to see if you were as good a kisser as he said.” Tony was ridiculous, Steve could practically see his walls go up.

            “For God’s sake Tony,” he muttered. “That was barely a kiss.”

            “Wha-“ Tony looked affronted, but he didn’t have long as Steve leaned down ever-so-slightly to cover his lips with his own. After a second, Tony started kissing back and t _his_ kiss was more in line with what Steve had expected from Tony Stark on the occasions he had thought about it.

            Steve let out a soft noise of protest as Tony pulled away slightly, but was silenced as he charged forward again, tilting his head slightly. Steve felt one hand snake around his back as Tony laced his fingers into the small hairs at the top of Steve’s neck and pulled.

            “Hawkeye wants to know if - ah!” Steve jumped back, startled. Tony gave a small sigh, and turned. Spider-Man was picking himself off of the floor.

            “You alright kid?” Tony asked, crossing his arms and leaning slightly.

            “I’m okay, just fell off the wall,” Spidey replied; he sounded flustered, “Hawkeye wanted to know what was taking you so long, and he made some joke that I forgot and stared at me until I laughed.” Spidey wrung his hands together and stared at the third-floor window.

            “We’ll be along in a minute,” Steve said as calmly as he could. Spider-Man nodded before zipping around the corner.

            “So,” Tony said. “We should go out some time.”

            “I’m free on Thursdays,” Steve replied.

            “It’s a date,” Tony said. He gave a quick smile before turning and walking off around the corner. Steve let out a long sigh, and leaned back - only half surprised to feel the rough brick behind him.

            “Cap, come on!” Natasha called. Steve pushed off the wall and started walking. It was good to be back.

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (this was supposed to be the last chapter, that's why it's so long, but I want to tie up a few more loose ends and you guys have been so amazingly patient! I had this part written aside from the last bit after they leave the building but life happened and it got postponed. BUT there should be just a short little follow-up chapter relatively soon. Proably not anything to hold off on PDFing for, but just some last-minute thing with Natasha and probably Clint.  
> That being said, thank-you so much for your support and reviews, I love you all dearly <3)


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